Incompetence is a disease which if not treated like the dreaded HIV can drive a nation to its doom. This is currently the situation with the Debt Management Office (DMO) which was driving the nation in the right direction under Dr Abraham Nwankwo, until Ms. Patience Oniha took over. In a glaring show on cluelessness, the Director General of DMO has seen Nigeria’s debt profile rise to a record 4.54% in just three months this year, without hope of decreasing anytime soon. This development was shameless announced by Oniha herself when she stated that the debt went up from N21.73 trillion in December 2017 to N22.71 trillion in early 2018.
Confirming the DG’s incompetence to head DMO, the Assistant Director (Fiscal Department) of the IMF, Mrs Catherine Pattillo berated the country for having a debt revenue ratio of 63% since Oniha mounted the saddle. This was at a press conference on the sidelines of the World Bank Group Spring Meetings in Washington DC. According to her, “Borrowing by countries can create benefits if used for investments of high returns. Our evidence suggests that’s not the case in some countries, especially in Nigeria. So rising debt can create the vulnerabilities.” Since her appointment, many staff of the organization transferred their services to other sister Federal Government agencies, while some resigned to work in other places. According to some of the staffers who left, they could no longer continue to work with a Director who knows nothing about economy, never takes superior idea, whereas her all knowing idea is driving the agency and the nation into coma.
We gathered that she has continued to hide under feminism and always running to the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adesoun, to save her, whenever there are petitions against her from staffers and concerned Nigerians. There’s currently rising pressure by staff who have called on the Federal Government to sack her and bring in a seasoned economist who can pilot the affairs of DMO. All efforts to reach her proved abortive as she didn’t pick calls from our newsroom.
sOURCE: SECRETS REPORTER